1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to body protective garments and more particularly to protective garments which will protect a body from weapons which inflict puncture wounds and a testing method for such protective garments.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97-1.99
Various puncture resistant articles which are worn primarily by prison corrections officers and other types of security, military or law enforcement personnel are known to exist. Such puncture resistant articles are designed to prevent bodily penetration as a result of a stabbing or slashing from sharp objects or weapons. Unfortunately, these protective articles are generally rigid shields which are externally worn and are constructed of heavy, bulky and inflexible metal components such as titanium or other extremely hard metal alloys. The metallic composition of these cumbersome external vest shields must be of a sufficient thickness, rigidity and strength to stop impacts imparted by an attacker, such as a prison inmate, using a sharp knife, pick, shank or the like.
Disadvantageously, the bulk and rigidity of such metallic vest garments render it uncomfortable to wear. Furthermore, it is rather difficult for the wearer of a rigid vest such as a corrections officer to move and maneuver around quickly and easily which is important especially if the wearer is being attacked. The stiffness of these externally worn body shield vest are uncomfortable to wear in a sitting position since the lower edges often press firmly against the stomach, hip and side areas of the wearer, as well as, the top of the shield placing pressure on the wearer's throat and chin area. Moreover, the weight of such known metallic shields causes significant fatigue to the security personnel wearer over the time of the wearer's working shift. Accordingly, such known puncture resistant articles often prove to be ineffective predominantly due to the fact that the potential wearer prefers not to wear the bulky torso shield rather than tolerating its discomfort.
Another, and perhaps a more significant problem with such rigid metallic alloy puncture resistant vests is that they are not concealable. These known cumbersome shield vests are almost exclusively externally worn and even if they were not worn externally, the bulky nature of such articles make it obvious to a would be attacker that the wearer (corrections officer etc.) is wearing a protective puncture resistant metallic shield vest. Since the worn vest article cannot be concealed the potential attacker is more prone to stab or slash a vital area away from the vest such as the neck or head area. Not only is any element of surprise on the part of the wearer removed by the inconcealable nature of such cumbersome rigid vests, it is highly impractical if not impossible for undercover personnel to wear such bulky items.
These metallic alloy shield vest articles are primarily designed to bend or break the engaging sharp object such as a knife, shank or ice pick to prevent it from penetrating through the article. However, prison inmates unfortunately often make stiff-shafted awl-like weapons.
Certain known woven fabric garments such as the twelve ply polyester sail cloth PG-12.TM., produced by Second Chance Body Armor, Inc., have been produced for correctional use. However, such rigid and relatively heavy polyester sailcloth items have been shown to be rather stiff and boardy and therefore not highly conducive to wearability, concealment or comfort. Moreover, such sail cloth items have been shown to be limited in thrust resistant capabilities while also being relatively heavy, having weight of 0.80 pounds per square foot for a twelve ply PG-12.TM..
Certain externally worn bullet resistant articles which generally have limited capabilities against stabbing or slashing attacks are known. Such bullet resistant articles can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,195 issued Feb. 9, 1993 to Harpell et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,252 issued Mar. 23, 1993 to Harpell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,280 issued Mar. 30, 1993 to Harpell et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,383 issued Oct. 19, 1993 to Harpell et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,316,820 issued May 31, 1994 to Harpell et al. Such articles primarily have layers of bullet resistant fibers which unfortunately are required to be stitched throughout the entire article with threads having a high tenacity. The laborious task of spacing the stitch less than one-eighth (1/8) of an inch apart from each other is required to be done throughout the entire article. A fibrous network on the article surface covers an underlying substrate composed of geometric planar rigid plates generally formed of a thermoplastic, ceramic or metallic composition. The geometric rigid plate-like bodies of the substrate are generally fastened or secured to the stitched fibrous outer cover layer. The thermoplastic, ceramic or metallic planar bodies in the substrate of the ballistic resistant article are secured along seams in an attempt to permit flexing of the substrate along the secured seams. The outer liner covering and the substrate layers containing the rigid plates generally require securement by horizontal and vertical stitching.
Certain standardized tests have been developed for testing the effectiveness of puncture resistant articles. One such standardized test in the California ice pick test, The State of California Specification 8470-8BS-001, para. 3.3, dated August 1988, which was developed to simulate the impact energy of a javelin. This test utilizes a standard 7 inch ice pick having a diameter of 0.163 inches attached to 16.2 pounds of weight which is dropped from 60.08 inches with the sharp end of the ice pick leading the impact into the underlying metallic vest article. While some metallic shields maybe capable of bending certain puncture weapons impacting with a force of approximately 81.1 foot-pounds, such known metallic vest shields generally might not stop stiffer shafted awls such as a Stanley.RTM. Tools scratch awl used under the California test at 81.1 foot-pounds.
In performing standardized tests for determining the level of protection for protective puncture resistant articles, a sharp weapon is dropped at a certain height with its sharp or pointed end making impact on the protective article being tested. The protective article being tested is supported by a hard firm base such as a block of clay material. This firm underlying support is rigid in nature and does not emulate the reaction of a human body which is more flexible with the capability to provide resilience in regaining shape and size after an impact or a blow. As a result, unrealistic results are often obtained with such resistant and rigid supports underlying the tested article the protective garment actually being worn on a more resilient human body. These inaccurate results, at times, lead to inaccurately designing of such protective articles. This may lead to adding greater weight and thickness in the article which, in turn, leads to increased discomfort by the wearer.
Under certain circumstances blocks of ordinance gelatin have been used as a tissue simulant for researching and studying ballistic injuries whereby bullets from firearms are shot into the gelatin blocks. See M. L. Fackler, M.D. and J. A. Malinowski, Ordinance Gelatin for Ballistic Studies, Detrimental Effect of Excess Heat Used in Gelatin Preparation, The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 9(3):218-219, 1988. However, preparation of such gelatin for ballistic research purposes is a precise process which is susceptible to temperature effects and is not used in association with testing puncture resistant materials or articles.
Flexible body armor such as bullet proof vests have been developed which are particularly suited to prevent bodily penetration from ballistic projectiles shot from firearms. Ballistic resistant garments constructed of layers of aramid fabric threads are generally known. Although, the construction of ballistic resistant materials are successful in preventing a projectile bullet from penetrating human tissue, such ballistic resistant body armor garments are not specially adapted for preventing punctures from sharp objects such as knifes, blades, ice picks, shanks, awls and the like. In particular, the weaves of the ballistic resistant fabrics used are generally too open for resisting an awl-like weapon attack. Moreover, the type of material and the combined arrangement thereof used in such bullet resistant articles have been shown to fall short of meeting adequate puncture resistant standards and further fail to provide the high tenacity and break elongation for resisting penetration of knife, shank or awl type weapons.